Westport company wins ‘Best Family Run Business’ at SME Awards

The inaugural SME Awards took place in the Radisson Hotel in Little Island, Cork and the first winner on the night was a Mayo business celebrating its tenth anniversary.

The first award of the night was for Ireland's ‘Best Family Run Business’ going to One Man and His Van owners Fintan and Wendy Conlon, who had barely sat down when to their welcome surprise, they were called out as winners.

One Man and His Van is in its 10th year in business and during this time, built a reputation for being a friendly, reliable and affordable removals and storage company. Based in Westport, Co.Mayo, it not only provides local and national removals services, it also provides a service to and from the UK and Continental Europe.

The owner, Fintan Conlon, who started the business back in 2005 after being made redundant, says he could write a book about the places he’s seen, objects he’s carried and people he’s met. From delivering a 7ft chicken- shaped pedalo to Lough Mask, to moving a real live dancing priest, Fintan has seen a lot. That’s what makes the job so interesting he said.

A service which was introduced after the collapse of the housing industry in the recession is their now very popular IKEA personal shopping and delivery service. Introduced to serve customers in the west of Ireland as a cost effective method of shopping in IKEA without having the expense of having to travel to the store, the team at ‘One Man and His Van’ take your order, go to the store and do the shopping for you. They then deliver your order to your door. What could be simpler?

As well as winning the family run business award, ‘One Man and His Van’ were also finalists in the ‘Customer Focus’ category. If you require any of the services offered by One Man and His Van, you can email [email protected] or call 098 50876

The event, sponsored by Blacknight Internet Solutions and organised by Damien Mulley of Mulley Communications, was started in response to the large number of entries in the SME section of the 2014 Web Awards. After receiving over 170 entrants in the category Mulley felt SMEs deserved their own competition in recognition of the economic and employment contribution they give to the country, a contribution which is often overlooked.